Michael Vorhis's Blog, page 2
September 20, 2011
Using the Head to Dispel Fears
As authors (many of whom are independent--spelled "swingin' in the breeze"), it doesn't take us very long to realize that pursuit of literary excellence does not a full-time author make--at least, not one who eats three squares a day. We must become grass-roots marketeers as well, and that's a whole new gig. Like editing, it is more mechanical than creative in nature...yet (unlike editing) it's not so easy to just hire it out. So we must become that technician, and the prospect of no longer riding on creativity alone strikes fear into our hearts.
How do we deal with such fear? Well, one way is to go back, once again, to our creative side.
I was reminded of our innate ability to address and dispel fears via creativity and courage by, once again, my 6-year-old daughter Veronique. The other night she burst into the parents' bedroom in the middle of the night, begging to sleep in the big bed. We hauled her up. Before sleeping she relayed the reason for the switch.
"I had a real bad dream."
"Wh...what was it, sweetie?"
"I saw a HEAD. And it was just there, and my hand touched it, and then when I reached again it was gone!"
"Well...gone is good, right? Now, uh, go to sleep; we're here, so no need to worry about any heads." Snoring commenced soon after.
The next night I tried to tuck her into her own bed, pretty certain that the subject would rear its ugly...you know what.
"What if I have another bad dream?!"
"Oh, you won't."
"It was a stranger."
"Okay, just a dream, you know, and..." My brain flailed wildly to find a way to change the subject to something funny. Didn't have much, but I went with the only thing that came to mind. "Hey, wait! You have these balloons hanging right here over your pillow, from their strings tacked to the wall! You put them there just the other day, remember? I think maybe your brain just got confused because they're...uh...round! Yeah! Ha ha."
As a distraction ploy it was weak, and I fully expected her to push right past that pitiful nonsense, back to the detailed realism I had no doubt she'd experienced...hair, nose holes, sunken eyes, crooked tooth, whatever.
But it didn't play out quite that way. Instead she reached up and squeezed the nearest balloon. "Hey, that does kind of feel rubbery, like the head did...when I squeezed it. Okay." And popping a thumb into her mouth, that was that, and she was ready to snooze.
As usual I was in awe. If we could only have such choice-based control over our adult fears, be they the prospect of marketing failure or apprehension over damaging reviews or whatever, perhaps we'd be much better prepared to reapply our creative natures to the new problems, without losing our...head.
How do we deal with such fear? Well, one way is to go back, once again, to our creative side.
I was reminded of our innate ability to address and dispel fears via creativity and courage by, once again, my 6-year-old daughter Veronique. The other night she burst into the parents' bedroom in the middle of the night, begging to sleep in the big bed. We hauled her up. Before sleeping she relayed the reason for the switch.
"I had a real bad dream."
"Wh...what was it, sweetie?"
"I saw a HEAD. And it was just there, and my hand touched it, and then when I reached again it was gone!"
"Well...gone is good, right? Now, uh, go to sleep; we're here, so no need to worry about any heads." Snoring commenced soon after.
The next night I tried to tuck her into her own bed, pretty certain that the subject would rear its ugly...you know what.
"What if I have another bad dream?!"
"Oh, you won't."
"It was a stranger."
"Okay, just a dream, you know, and..." My brain flailed wildly to find a way to change the subject to something funny. Didn't have much, but I went with the only thing that came to mind. "Hey, wait! You have these balloons hanging right here over your pillow, from their strings tacked to the wall! You put them there just the other day, remember? I think maybe your brain just got confused because they're...uh...round! Yeah! Ha ha."
As a distraction ploy it was weak, and I fully expected her to push right past that pitiful nonsense, back to the detailed realism I had no doubt she'd experienced...hair, nose holes, sunken eyes, crooked tooth, whatever.
But it didn't play out quite that way. Instead she reached up and squeezed the nearest balloon. "Hey, that does kind of feel rubbery, like the head did...when I squeezed it. Okay." And popping a thumb into her mouth, that was that, and she was ready to snooze.
As usual I was in awe. If we could only have such choice-based control over our adult fears, be they the prospect of marketing failure or apprehension over damaging reviews or whatever, perhaps we'd be much better prepared to reapply our creative natures to the new problems, without losing our...head.
September 3, 2011
Combination
This will just be a quick note, until I can find time to expand the thought. Recently I've been sharing ideas with other authors on the value of grammatical and spelling perfection in a published work--even one sold for nothing. Reviewers seem to think that for having contributed not a penny they're owed perfection.
Such polish often (although not always) comes from the application of someone else's eyes and skill--an editor. It is the COMBINATION of two very different skills--the creative and the mechanical--that forges a masterpiece.
As a quick example of the value of this concept of polish, my 6-year-old daughter woke me up very early this (Saturday) morning to inform me that water is the combination of oxygen and hibernation.
Sounded good to me at the time, I have to say.
Such polish often (although not always) comes from the application of someone else's eyes and skill--an editor. It is the COMBINATION of two very different skills--the creative and the mechanical--that forges a masterpiece.
As a quick example of the value of this concept of polish, my 6-year-old daughter woke me up very early this (Saturday) morning to inform me that water is the combination of oxygen and hibernation.
Sounded good to me at the time, I have to say.
August 21, 2011
Digital is So Broadening
Three weeks ago I overheard a young adult woman tending the Health Club check-in desk comment to her colleague, “Yeah…I gave up on trying to read analog clocks a loooong time ago.”
This remark cost me most of my faith in the survivability of the human race. If we couldn’t invent senseless new applications for replacement technologies without forgetting the most trivial of skills we’d acquired up to that point, how could we hope to control that new technology? Far better to resist being softened, and altered, by the new ways.
But last week my 6-year-old Veronique reinstated that faith, in one quick moment single-handedly earning for the entire species my replenished hope that creativity, mental alacrity, and an ability to remain pure in the face of faux advancement would be enough to get us through.
“Hey Daddy, I’m a lot more!”
I looked over at her as I brushed my teeth; she'd stepped onto the sleek glass bathroom scale, both temperamental and entirely digital, that we’d received the previous year as a gift. “You’re more?" I asked with a flouride accent. "You mean you’re no longer 41 pounds like you’ve been for the last two years?”
“Yeah, I’m more!”
“Well, great; how much do you weigh?”
“Eight, eight, dot, eight, eight!”
So I’m happy to report that we’re saved.
This remark cost me most of my faith in the survivability of the human race. If we couldn’t invent senseless new applications for replacement technologies without forgetting the most trivial of skills we’d acquired up to that point, how could we hope to control that new technology? Far better to resist being softened, and altered, by the new ways.
But last week my 6-year-old Veronique reinstated that faith, in one quick moment single-handedly earning for the entire species my replenished hope that creativity, mental alacrity, and an ability to remain pure in the face of faux advancement would be enough to get us through.
“Hey Daddy, I’m a lot more!”
I looked over at her as I brushed my teeth; she'd stepped onto the sleek glass bathroom scale, both temperamental and entirely digital, that we’d received the previous year as a gift. “You’re more?" I asked with a flouride accent. "You mean you’re no longer 41 pounds like you’ve been for the last two years?”
“Yeah, I’m more!”
“Well, great; how much do you weigh?”
“Eight, eight, dot, eight, eight!”
So I’m happy to report that we’re saved.
July 26, 2011
Self-Limiting
I've wondered about my coffee-drinking habits lately; after nearly five decades of not seeing the appeal, I discovered Vietnamese iced coffee and have made up for the lost time with a vengeance. But, while the benefits of caffeine (such as greatly reduced Alzheimer's risk) are well documented, still I worried about the amounts of the stimulant I was ingesting.
But last week I suddenly saw it all so clearly: Coffee is a self-limiting vice! That's right, with a little methodological discipline, it will itself guarantee that you can only take in so much.
Beer is like this, of course--each fresh gulp puts the happy imbiber that much closer to a bleary, unconscious stupor, until the mug falls safely from the hand, to saturate the expensive Persian rug instead. Likewise other obsessions--especially andorphine-producing, fatigue-generating extreme outdoor sports (my favorites being river kayaking, doubles volleyball, and hang gliding, and I can emphatically attest that four hours of uncontrollable shivering at 12,000 feet will motivate anyone to land his or her hunk of flying lawn furniture in the first flat-looking field they spot, no matter how far from a road and eventual return to civilization it might be).
So many over-indulgence-prone habits can be enjoyed in a manner that guarantees moderation. Some people power their TV with an exer-cycle; others keep their cell-phones only half-charged. All good ways of staying within the envelope.
But, back to coffee, and the "methodological discipline" of which I wrote a moment ago. It hit me on return to my desk from the coffee machine at work. I simply carried the brimming mug at arm's length! That's all you need to do. "Stay away from coffee," the critics will tell you, and so you do it. Don't bent the elbow, now.
If you're under your limit, you'll arrive at your desk with a mostly full cup. The more you drink throughout the day or week, the more jitter and slosh you'll experience. It's so simple! And the beauty of it is that you never really need to know when you've had enough.
Because the janitor will tell you.
But last week I suddenly saw it all so clearly: Coffee is a self-limiting vice! That's right, with a little methodological discipline, it will itself guarantee that you can only take in so much.
Beer is like this, of course--each fresh gulp puts the happy imbiber that much closer to a bleary, unconscious stupor, until the mug falls safely from the hand, to saturate the expensive Persian rug instead. Likewise other obsessions--especially andorphine-producing, fatigue-generating extreme outdoor sports (my favorites being river kayaking, doubles volleyball, and hang gliding, and I can emphatically attest that four hours of uncontrollable shivering at 12,000 feet will motivate anyone to land his or her hunk of flying lawn furniture in the first flat-looking field they spot, no matter how far from a road and eventual return to civilization it might be).
So many over-indulgence-prone habits can be enjoyed in a manner that guarantees moderation. Some people power their TV with an exer-cycle; others keep their cell-phones only half-charged. All good ways of staying within the envelope.
But, back to coffee, and the "methodological discipline" of which I wrote a moment ago. It hit me on return to my desk from the coffee machine at work. I simply carried the brimming mug at arm's length! That's all you need to do. "Stay away from coffee," the critics will tell you, and so you do it. Don't bent the elbow, now.
If you're under your limit, you'll arrive at your desk with a mostly full cup. The more you drink throughout the day or week, the more jitter and slosh you'll experience. It's so simple! And the beauty of it is that you never really need to know when you've had enough.
Because the janitor will tell you.
July 22, 2011
A Curious Incident
A few weeks ago my well received "romantic suspense thriller" novel Archangel received its first rating below 5 stars. It's bound to happen one day, but it stuck in my mind partly because I (like every author here) spend hundreds of hours monthly trying to squeak a little higher on the world's wall, especially in the early months when establishing the value of a major work is so critical. Even very small rating reductions can be tremendous setbacks that bump us hundreds of books down in some sorted list, obliterating months of careful reader/reviewer relationship cultivation, advertising, and promotional effort.
And it stuck in my mind for another reason: The reviewer seemed to be rating many dozens of books, and had judged essentially none of them (except one vampire book I think) above a three! Virtually all were given only one, two, or three stars. (At least she'd set mine at the top of her range!) It was hard to believe all those works she'd chosen to read were so poor; it seemed almost more probable that the reader, if she was a reader at all (and if she was even a she), was unable to absorb what was in those works, but of course entertaining that possibility didn't diminish the damage she was doing to authors' hard-fought dreams.
Moreover, it seemed she'd given no reason, for ANY of her ratings. Taking myself as just one example, after eleven years of diligent toil on my novel, this enigmatic member with no profile and no avatar had not applied even ten seconds to jot down why she felt qualified to think so little of my life's work.
But I made my peace with it, and just resigned myself to let go of what I cannot control. Until yesterday.
Yesterday I noticed that my rating average was back up to five full stars. Strange...the average-reducing 3-star rating was gone. The reviewer herself was also gone from all the lists I frequent, and maybe from GoodReads entirely (although that's hard to tell). Could someone have blown a whistle? Could it have been a "fake" GR member created by one author or small agent-model publisher to damage others? So hard to imagine this kind of thing in our constructive reader/writer community, and yet Smashwords just recently had this very problem and ferretted out some false accounts that had been created specifically to down-rate authors' work to one star, presumably to allow others to bubble toward the surface.
I've personally drawn no conclusions, but I do occasionally wonder if other members ever wonder too. If I'm imagining things, well, I'll draw no conclusions so it's just a curious story, and water under the bridge. If I've stumbled onto something by accident, I hope that will be the end of it! I do love this community and the readers, authors, and group administrators I've met. We're a microcosm that represents the continuing value of literature, and in that sense we're one of the ongoing hopes of humankind.
By all means, share your thoughts with me, in comments or privately! As I said, it's probably just a curious incident, worthy of no concern and minimal debate. Feel free to say so, or to share your own observations as you like.
I for one intend to give credit where it's due. There's room for many thousands of great novels in this world, and it takes someone's fully dedicated life to coax each one of them into being. Critics are aplenty, and all too easy to become; what this world needs are creators and experiencers (and I don't think we can be good at one without also being partly the other). My opinions...what are yours?
And it stuck in my mind for another reason: The reviewer seemed to be rating many dozens of books, and had judged essentially none of them (except one vampire book I think) above a three! Virtually all were given only one, two, or three stars. (At least she'd set mine at the top of her range!) It was hard to believe all those works she'd chosen to read were so poor; it seemed almost more probable that the reader, if she was a reader at all (and if she was even a she), was unable to absorb what was in those works, but of course entertaining that possibility didn't diminish the damage she was doing to authors' hard-fought dreams.
Moreover, it seemed she'd given no reason, for ANY of her ratings. Taking myself as just one example, after eleven years of diligent toil on my novel, this enigmatic member with no profile and no avatar had not applied even ten seconds to jot down why she felt qualified to think so little of my life's work.
But I made my peace with it, and just resigned myself to let go of what I cannot control. Until yesterday.
Yesterday I noticed that my rating average was back up to five full stars. Strange...the average-reducing 3-star rating was gone. The reviewer herself was also gone from all the lists I frequent, and maybe from GoodReads entirely (although that's hard to tell). Could someone have blown a whistle? Could it have been a "fake" GR member created by one author or small agent-model publisher to damage others? So hard to imagine this kind of thing in our constructive reader/writer community, and yet Smashwords just recently had this very problem and ferretted out some false accounts that had been created specifically to down-rate authors' work to one star, presumably to allow others to bubble toward the surface.
I've personally drawn no conclusions, but I do occasionally wonder if other members ever wonder too. If I'm imagining things, well, I'll draw no conclusions so it's just a curious story, and water under the bridge. If I've stumbled onto something by accident, I hope that will be the end of it! I do love this community and the readers, authors, and group administrators I've met. We're a microcosm that represents the continuing value of literature, and in that sense we're one of the ongoing hopes of humankind.
By all means, share your thoughts with me, in comments or privately! As I said, it's probably just a curious incident, worthy of no concern and minimal debate. Feel free to say so, or to share your own observations as you like.
I for one intend to give credit where it's due. There's room for many thousands of great novels in this world, and it takes someone's fully dedicated life to coax each one of them into being. Critics are aplenty, and all too easy to become; what this world needs are creators and experiencers (and I don't think we can be good at one without also being partly the other). My opinions...what are yours?
July 18, 2011
ParaReligionMeaning, or No?
Thanks in advance for participating in this with comments, however brief; I'd like to solicit your independent opinions on three questions (one that might benefit me, two my close friend):
1. If a published non-fiction adventure described itself as "a true-life tale of a young man searching for meaning and finding himself in a struggle for his life," would the description tend to draw you toward the book, or propel you away?
2. If a fiction novel had a title that could possibly imply religious dogma, yet you knew it was fiction, would you be more apt to be drawn to it if you decided it was religious, or if you decided it was not?
3. If a fiction novel had a title that could possibly imply a paranormal or mystical or supernatural theme, would that attract you, or would you tend to move on?
I know how I'd answer all three, but then I'm a single voice, and sometimes move antithetically to common trends.
And feel free to comment why, on any and all.
Thanks!
1. If a published non-fiction adventure described itself as "a true-life tale of a young man searching for meaning and finding himself in a struggle for his life," would the description tend to draw you toward the book, or propel you away?
2. If a fiction novel had a title that could possibly imply religious dogma, yet you knew it was fiction, would you be more apt to be drawn to it if you decided it was religious, or if you decided it was not?
3. If a fiction novel had a title that could possibly imply a paranormal or mystical or supernatural theme, would that attract you, or would you tend to move on?
I know how I'd answer all three, but then I'm a single voice, and sometimes move antithetically to common trends.
And feel free to comment why, on any and all.
Thanks!
July 6, 2011
A Stupefying Promotion
As have we all, I've been watching the economy, but in my case especially the niche art of marketing promotions. They're so eternally tenacious; in good times and bad, whether there's anything left to throw into the pot or not, top marketeers always find a way to offer some completely free giveaway that is amazing, if not intrinsically, at least by decree.
And so I'm going to do the same thing. Right now, you can buy my five-star-rated Suspense Thriller ARCHANGEL with NO CREDIT CHECK. That's right, no credit check of any kind! That's unprecedented value. What's more, you get easy payment plans--simply put down a stack of MERE PENNIES that totals the price of the book, and make NO PAYMENTS FOR 36 MONTHS.
Wait, that's not all??? Act immediately and there's NO WAITING...plus, after 36 months your payments will still be zero! Not to mention the Secrets of the Universe that come with every copy, which isn't as cool as the credit thing but it's in there nonetheless.
Think: For the price of one small pull on a cheap beef jerky stick or a single gulp of a Starbucks Caramel Macchiato, you get eleven years of my very best, world-class, five-star passion and craft! That's only a couple of tarnished coins per year!
But hurry; you know how limited electronic copies can be. Certified Pre-owned e-copies are also available at the same price, but going fast. As any wrist watch worth the cost of the book or more can always tell you, time is ticking away. Nothing lasts forever. So act today, this very moment, at any of your favorite retailers, and join the mad dash to add ARCHANGEL to your life!
Like I said--stupefying.
- - - - - -
LATER UPDATE: Unforgivably, I forgot to mention the four-quart peanut jar and the beautiful green plastic doodad. Now how much would you pay?
And so I'm going to do the same thing. Right now, you can buy my five-star-rated Suspense Thriller ARCHANGEL with NO CREDIT CHECK. That's right, no credit check of any kind! That's unprecedented value. What's more, you get easy payment plans--simply put down a stack of MERE PENNIES that totals the price of the book, and make NO PAYMENTS FOR 36 MONTHS.
Wait, that's not all??? Act immediately and there's NO WAITING...plus, after 36 months your payments will still be zero! Not to mention the Secrets of the Universe that come with every copy, which isn't as cool as the credit thing but it's in there nonetheless.
Think: For the price of one small pull on a cheap beef jerky stick or a single gulp of a Starbucks Caramel Macchiato, you get eleven years of my very best, world-class, five-star passion and craft! That's only a couple of tarnished coins per year!
But hurry; you know how limited electronic copies can be. Certified Pre-owned e-copies are also available at the same price, but going fast. As any wrist watch worth the cost of the book or more can always tell you, time is ticking away. Nothing lasts forever. So act today, this very moment, at any of your favorite retailers, and join the mad dash to add ARCHANGEL to your life!
Like I said--stupefying.
- - - - - -
LATER UPDATE: Unforgivably, I forgot to mention the four-quart peanut jar and the beautiful green plastic doodad. Now how much would you pay?
May 6, 2011
Books Can Come Alive!
Have you ever watched a Harry Potter movie and marveled at the notion of illustrated pages in books talking to the reader, showing replays of events, setting moods, winking slyly, whispering secrets? If content (like a book) is being read on a computer, we can do that today! It's only left to us to put such books together so that they play on a screen.
And so, given that virtually all Smart Phones and eTablets and eBook reader units are really just computers, the eBook content delivery technology has the power to bring phenomenally enriched reading experiences to you and me.
Enter the "Enhanced" or "Hybrid" eBook--a multimedia phenomenon with (hopefully) all the literary appeal of the written word, and added to that whatever might add an extra dimension. And right this minute, a number of content delivery companies are gearing up to make it mainstream.
There will be those who fear the 3-ring-circus nature of spooks flying across the page and flames consuming the lurid sections of the story will distract from the art of writing to generate such images inside the head. And I'm one of them--definitely the great bulk of writers (let's call this crowd "enhancers") won't be able to draw the line at tasteful understatement. So many books already can't do that, and that's without the full motion video.
But it depends on how it's done. If an icon or drawing is acceptable to usher in a mood here and there, then so is one that can shift and move. It's all in the art with which the new capabilities are applied.
It's coming. Turn to Chapter Three please, which begins with the third siren sister giving you a wink.
For now I'm still old school--my own novel ARCHANGEL still relies on deft use of the language to elicit the reader's interest, engagement and emotion. I still believe that characters themselves steer the story, and the author simply does his or her best to render those characters as they really speak and move.
And so, given that virtually all Smart Phones and eTablets and eBook reader units are really just computers, the eBook content delivery technology has the power to bring phenomenally enriched reading experiences to you and me.
Enter the "Enhanced" or "Hybrid" eBook--a multimedia phenomenon with (hopefully) all the literary appeal of the written word, and added to that whatever might add an extra dimension. And right this minute, a number of content delivery companies are gearing up to make it mainstream.
There will be those who fear the 3-ring-circus nature of spooks flying across the page and flames consuming the lurid sections of the story will distract from the art of writing to generate such images inside the head. And I'm one of them--definitely the great bulk of writers (let's call this crowd "enhancers") won't be able to draw the line at tasteful understatement. So many books already can't do that, and that's without the full motion video.
But it depends on how it's done. If an icon or drawing is acceptable to usher in a mood here and there, then so is one that can shift and move. It's all in the art with which the new capabilities are applied.
It's coming. Turn to Chapter Three please, which begins with the third siren sister giving you a wink.
For now I'm still old school--my own novel ARCHANGEL still relies on deft use of the language to elicit the reader's interest, engagement and emotion. I still believe that characters themselves steer the story, and the author simply does his or her best to render those characters as they really speak and move.
May 4, 2011
The Royal Wedding
This is more about "reading" the world around us than about reading books, but I can't resist....
I had the good fortune to watch the Royal Wedding a few days ago; as much as I thought I'd be bored, I actually learned a fair amount about history and felt I was witnessing history being made (which of course I was). I'll remember this years from now when King and Queen William and Catherine graciously do this or that of world importance.
One humorous impression stood out. The American television commentators where excited...and hilarious. Each time some high-ranking personage or couple would approach and begin to enter the Abbey, I would imagine the millions of proper British commentators world-wide remarking on the newcomers' position or importance to the country’s aristocratic hierarchy. "And now, the Earl and Lady Rothwhinstnermershire, stepping to the curb, now approaching Westminster Abbey, much as their predecessors have done for countless generations...Lady Rothwinstnermershire is of course a distant but much loved second cousin of Queen Elizabeth herself, and the Earl is of course prominent in the House of Lords...." You know, all the intricacies of how the couple intertwine with the whole social structure.
But of course our own American commentators, bless their well-meaning hearts, knew nothing of all that, nor could they possibly. And so they would simply blurt out something like, “Heyyyy, there goes another big hat! Ooooooooo, a red one!”
Delightful.
I had the good fortune to watch the Royal Wedding a few days ago; as much as I thought I'd be bored, I actually learned a fair amount about history and felt I was witnessing history being made (which of course I was). I'll remember this years from now when King and Queen William and Catherine graciously do this or that of world importance.
One humorous impression stood out. The American television commentators where excited...and hilarious. Each time some high-ranking personage or couple would approach and begin to enter the Abbey, I would imagine the millions of proper British commentators world-wide remarking on the newcomers' position or importance to the country’s aristocratic hierarchy. "And now, the Earl and Lady Rothwhinstnermershire, stepping to the curb, now approaching Westminster Abbey, much as their predecessors have done for countless generations...Lady Rothwinstnermershire is of course a distant but much loved second cousin of Queen Elizabeth herself, and the Earl is of course prominent in the House of Lords...." You know, all the intricacies of how the couple intertwine with the whole social structure.
But of course our own American commentators, bless their well-meaning hearts, knew nothing of all that, nor could they possibly. And so they would simply blurt out something like, “Heyyyy, there goes another big hat! Ooooooooo, a red one!”
Delightful.
